


If Given a Match

by DelicateRevelations



Category: Chicago Fire
Genre: Bromance, Episode: s02e07 No Regrets, F/M, Firefighters, Gen, Grieving Casey, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-22
Updated: 2013-12-22
Packaged: 2018-01-05 11:39:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,411
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1093467
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DelicateRevelations/pseuds/DelicateRevelations
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Are you a father?” The man asked desperately, appealing to Casey’s better nature. Begging him to look for his daughter....</p>
<p>And what came out was, “Yeah.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	If Given a Match

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first story in this fandom, I recently watched the entire series. Fell in love with it, particularly the relationship between Casey and Severide. I was surprised to see that not many stories were written for it depsite how well the tv show did. So here I am! Trying my hand at it. 
> 
> I wrote this as a bromance, not a slash story. But it could probably be read that way if you wanted :)
> 
> Enjoy!

_“Are you a father?” The man asked desperately, appealing to Casey’s better nature. Begging him to look for his daughter._

_The train continued to burn beside them._

_Casey froze. The answer ‘no’ was on the tip of his tongue. It would likely come out wishful, the way it always did when he admitted he didn’t have a family._

_But then he remembered this morning, taking Griffin and Ben to school. The way they hugged him before running in._

_And what came out was, “Yeah.”_  

* * *

_"Give a man a match, and he'll be warm for a minute, but set him on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life."_   


  
__\- Unknown_ _

* * *

Kelly watched as Casey stood by the table in the common area, he had his fists resting on the table and his head bowed over it.

His face was blank. And it wasn’t the blank face that Kelly knew meant he was angry and trying to hold it in.

This was his blank, lost face. It never meant anything good.

He hadn’t seen Casey with that expression since the day Andy…. Since Andy.

Uncomfortable, Kelly shifted in his chair.

Last time it had taken Hallie to get him out of it. Casey had been sitting in one of the chairs, across the room from Severide, and he’d been utterly despondent. At the time Kelly had been torn between glaring at Casey and watching him with concern.

He could still remember vividly the way Hallie strode in, ignoring everyone as she made her way to Matt. She had taken one look at him and then proceeded to plop herself in his lap. He’d barely reacted quickly enough to grab her before she could lose her balance.

And then he’d clung to her for hours.

But Hallie wasn’t here now, _never would be again_ , and Kelly didn’t even know what had caused that expression to return.

So far no one else had noticed, an advantage of the way Casey was staring at the table.

Kelly knew he should try and do something, he and Casey _were_ trying to be friends again. But really it was more like they were just being civil at work. They were nowhere near the friends they’d been before.

It wasn’t what he wanted. He wanted his best friend back.

He’d already messed up once when he let Mills be the one to pry Casey off the doctor when he told him Hallie hadn’t made it.

He’d been grieving and Matt had latched onto the first person to try to comfort him. Kelly knew that a year ago he would have been the first one there, Andy one step behind him.

It should have been him this time too.

The last thought is what spurs him into action.

Getting up from his chair he crosses the room to Casey, placing a hand on his shoulder.

“Hey, Can I talk to you for a sec?” He asked, noting the way Casey jumped slightly. It was so slight you wouldn’t have been able to tell looking at him, but Kelly had the advantage of bodily contact.

Casey glanced up at him, eyes catching but not connecting.

Not prepared to take no for an answer, and honestly Casey didn’t look conscious enough to form a protest, Kelly gently steered him towards the bunks.

Deciding it was best to maximize their privacy Kelly turned them into Casey’s bunk.

One because it was closer than his, and two because the familiarity might help.

He directed Casey so that he was sitting on his bed. Throughout the entire process not once did Casey speak a word or even meet Severide’s eyes.

Yeah Severide would be worried. If he worried. He didn’t do that.

“Hey Casey, what’s up man?” He asks, giving the blonde a little shake.

Casey didn’t react.

“Matt?” Kelly tries, the first name stale on his tongue. He hasn’t used it since before Andy.

Surprisingly that’s what gets Casey’s attention. He shakes his head as if clearing it. “Kel?”

Kelly swallowed the sudden lump that had formed in his throat.

“Yeah buddy, I’m here.” He collapsed onto the bed next to Casey, relieved to see some of the terrifying blankness fade.

Casey blinks a couple times, “What’s going on?” he asked.

Rolling his eyes Kelly replied, “I was hoping you could tell me. I thought you were gonna go catatonic.”

Frowning, Casey tries to order his thoughts. Work through it.

“You know how I’ve always wanted a family?” He asked finally as his head cleared further.

“Uhhh yeah? So?” He responds looking up at the ceiling so that he doesn’t have to look at the still dazed and ruffled Casey.

The sight would make his stomach clench more than it already was.

“Yesterday at the train site,” he glanced at Kelly to make sure he got the reference to the crash and triage mess they’d had the day before. Severide nodded briefly.

“Well one of the dads was begging me to find his daughter. Asked me if I was a dad. To try and make me sympathetic I guess.” Casey told him, folding his fingers in front of his mouth.

Kelly raises an eyebrow, “Okay I’ll bite. What did you say?”

“I said yes.”                                                         

For a moment all Kelly could do was stare, but then it all clicked into place. Heather’s and Andy’s kids. Casey had been taking care of the boys the last couple of weeks.

And if he’d heard right Heather had left town this morning for Florida with the boys in tow. Likely never to return.

The click as everything fell in place was sickening. Couldn’t any of them catch a break?

Kelly was a man of action. He’d always believed gestures said more than words.

So he got up and shut the blinds on Casey’s doors and windows.

“Severide what?” Casey questions, while Kelly ignored him and proceeded to man handle him until he was laying back on his bunk.

Then Kelly prodded him until there was enough room for him to stretch out beside him. It’s a tight fit, they’re both broad shouldered and are definitely not as thinly built as the last time they’d done this.

Casey was shocked into silence, but comforted nonetheless by the steady warmth of one of his oldest friends beside him.

He’d grown up isolated, mostly because of his parents. So when Andy and Matt had befriended him and included them in their tightknit friendship? That was it for Casey. They would always be his closest and oldest friends.

Even if they weren’t around anymore.

“I’m sorry,” Kelly said quietly. And it’s for more than just the boys. It’s for Hallie and Dawson, for Heather, for blaming him for Andy.

Most importantly for not being there, for pushing Casey away when all he’d ever done was reach out.

Casey seems to understand because he relaxes against him, and turns his head so he’s facing Kelly.

“I lost a lot of people this past year.” He starts, “Andy, Hallie, Heather, Griffin and Ben. I thought for a while I’d lost you too. Was I wrong?”

Kelly’s chest suddenly feels tight.

The hesitation makes Casey tense, but Kelly doesn’t know what to do.

Screwing up his courage, and beating back the stubborn part of him that wants to always be in the right, and says, “Yeah. You were wrong. You still got me.”

Casey breathed a sigh of relief, “Don’t scare me like that, man.” He griped good-naturedly.

Kelly can’t help it, he chuckles. The ridiculousness of the situation requires it.

Here they are, two grown men. Two grown Firemen. Crammed in bed together talking about their previously broken friendship, acting like a bunch of girls.

Casey gives him a weird look but can’t help but smile with him.

They lay there in comfortable silence and Kelly listened as Casey’s breathing slowly evened out. Glancing over he’s amused to see that the other man had fallen asleep.

He can’t help but wonder when Casey had last got a decent amount of sleep.

Kelly doesn’t ponder too much on it though as his own eyelids grow heavy. Maybe they can catch a couple hours of sleep before they’re called out again.

Casey may not be a father, or have kids. But that didn’t mean he didn’t have a family.

* * *

 

_"If you want to see what your friends and family think of you, die broke, and see who comes to your funeral"_

_-Gregory Nunn_

* * *

 

 


End file.
